Thursday, November 5, 2009

Disappointed

I watched the excellent Luc Besson movie, "The Fifth Element" for the umpteenth time a few weeks ago. I have a long and storied relationship with this film. The reason I bought my first DVD Player was to own the film on DVD. It was 1998..."The Fifth Element" was available in Widescreen only on DVD. The Pan&Scan VHS version wasn't going to cut it. TFE enjoyed some of the earliest realistic Full Motion Computer Generated Images in popular cinema. Reportedly costing $100K/minute, the scenes of the deep city canyon-lands, full to the bursting point with flying cars, buses, trucks and taxicabs were Total Eye Candy, and deserved to be seen in their entirety!

The Bad Guy, Mister Zorg...(portrayed by the excellent Gary Oldman) was repeatedly frustrated in his Evil Plan to sell out Earth to Evil for whatever twisted reason the film didn't bother to mention. Near the explosive climax, Mister Zorg sighs, and says (with rising frustration and anger, and a rising voice) "I am very disappointed!"

Today I watched the Local TV News at Noon...twice. Once from San Francisco's FOX afilliate, KTVU Channel 2, and once from Sacramento's NBC Outlet, KCRA Channel 3. There was a common theme to the weather forecasts proffered by both stations...Disappointment!

The eight year-old's lost puppy moment, again! The rain the weather-folks were hyping last night at 11PM, had become "a slight chance of showers in the North Bay/Northern Sacramento Valley" by noon today.

I read the Forecast Discussions from Reno and Sacramento twice before noon, and I was far from disappointed. The observations showed up in the lessening of precipitation and increased wind...that's it...maybe a little flurry or two this evening...All north of Interstate 80.

Since Sunday, I've tried without success to get a handle on the "Mavericks Surfer Weatherdudes" but so far I'm drawing a Big Fat Zero! I want to hear about the method they used to predict "30 Major Storms coming onshore in NorCal between now and March 31st" This sounds like the Annual Hurricane Season Outlook from the National Hurricane Center, but I'm unsure of exactly which department of NOAA the "Mavericks Surfer Weatherdudes" hail from!

"Mavericks Surfer Weatherdudes" have a strong grasp on the Marketing Side of "The Weather"...much like the TV Weatherfolks do, but I don't think I'd make any bankroll decisions on their forecast! As I do with the TV Weather, I'll watch for the visuals, enjoy their presentation skills (or lack thereof) and get the Real Story from the NWS Website's Forecast Discussion. It's very American to bypass the Middleman, after all!

If the "Mavericks Surfer Weatherdudes" have "built a better mousetrap", one that accurately models the upcoming Rainy Season, why hide it in the vapors? Hold a Press Conference, put your "30 Major Storms" on the table, and prepare to enjoy the hordes "beating a path to your door"!